Waste or garbage disposal apparatus



July 17, 1951 A. T. KEENE 2,560,578

WASTE OR GARBAGE DISPOSAL APPARATUS I Filed April 9, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet l I I: Z6 79 A .93 $9 4 AR CHIBALD T. KEFNE IN VEN TOR.

BY m

AT TO R N E Y July 17, 1951 A. T. KEENE WASTE OR GARBAGE DISPOSAL APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 fig; .5.

Filed April 9, 1945 a Z 7 j,

INVENTOR.

ARCHIBALD KEENE,

V ATTORNEY July 17, 1951 KEENE 2,560,578

WASTE OR GARBAGE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed April 9, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 v ARCHIBA LD 7". KEENE I N V EN TOR.

ATTORNE v Patented July 17, 1951 WASTE on GARBAGE msros L APPAR TUS Archibald 'r. Keene, simulate, CaliL; Enid Lois Keene administratrix of Keene, deceased laid Archibald 1*.

Application April 9, 1945, Serial No, 587,380

- l The invention relates or garbage disposal apparatus.

An object of the invention is to provide method and means for disposing of garbage at its source,

substantially without smoke or unpleasant odor,'

while obviating the necessity of municipal transportation either before or after treatment. A

Another object is toprovide a home unit which produces from fresh garbage an end product which is either ash or desiccated garbage, both being of value, also clean to handle, free from unpleasant odor and useful as stock feed or fertilizer.

A further object is to provide a home disposal unit which is simple to install and is readily accessible on the outside of the dwelling for inspection and repair.

Another object is to provide a combined comminuting and desiccating unit having component parts which can be readily assembled or taken apart for ease of assembly and repair.

For further details of the invention reference may be made to the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of waste or garbage disposal apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation on a reduced scale of the apparatus of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the drawer at the top of the apparatus in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a front end elevation of the drawer of Fig. 3, with the drawer on its side, looking in the direction of the line 5-5.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line 6--6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a view in side elevation of the shelf and rake unit of Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a slightly magnified top plan view of the grinding element of Fig. 1; the view being taken on line 8-43 of Fig. 9 which is a view in side elevation of the grinding element.

Fig. 10 is a bottom plan view of the grinding element of Figs. 8 and 9, the view being taken on line [Hr-ill of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a top plan view of a breaker plate arranged under the grinding element of Figs.

10 Claims. (Cl.110 -8) to improvements in waste 2 or garbage disposal apparatus lfor carrying out the method of the present invention comprises a cylindrical housing 2 which houses at the top thereof a rotary comminuting or grinding element 3 driven by an electric motor 4 at high speed and a desiccator 5 having a plurality of shelves such as 6 each having a rake such as i, driven at slow speed step by step by a separate motor 8. Bake 1 has suitable teeth which may be L-shaped as shown at i in Fig. 13. On the top of the housing 2 is a hopper 9 having a cover it. Communicating with the hopper 9 is a drawer H which may extend through the wall It of the dwelling so as to be accessible at the front of the wall H2.

The motor 4 is provided with a cover comprising a flat top it which may serve as the lowermost shelf of the desiccator. The top it at one side is cut away and secured thereto is a sloping portion it which serves as the chute for the desiccated material. Top i3 is removably supported on a circular flange is secured to the inside of housing 2. e from top i3 drops onto a shelf it provided with an opening i6 and a valve l'i. When the valve 8? is opened by the handle it shown in Fig. 6, the desiccated material falls through the opening it and through the opening E9 to a suitable receptacle, not shown, therebelow. When the valve H is closed, the desiccated material is guided through the opening 20 in the receptacle 2 i, which may serve as a furnace, and such comminuted material piles up on the grate 22 of the furnace until the pile reaches a level adjacent the flame of the gas or other burner 23,

whereupon the comminuted material burns, I

more-or-less like punk, substantially without smoke or unpleasant odor for reasons hereafter explained. The furnace 2i is provided with a circular array of apertures such as 24, and the burner 23 is a manifold arranged around the outside of the furnace 2! with a gas jet such as 25 adjacent each of;v the apertures 24. Air for the flames of the burner 23 passes through the grate 22 or through opening 19 and through the openings 24 and then out=through opening 20 and through the open top 26 of the furnace 2i.

' The furnace 2| is mounted in a housing exten- The desiccated material burner 23 through opening i9 enters inside of the furnace 2| and in sodolng deflects the flames of the burner 23 inside of the furnace 2|, even though the burner 23 itself is outside of the furnace 2|. The advantage of this arrangement is that if an excess of moisture or water from the hopper 9 should flow down ,the chutes l4 and I5, such moisture will not reach the burner 23 and put out the flame.

The grate 22 is connected to a shaft 33 mounted for pivotal movement by brackets 15, I6 at one side of the furnace 2|. The grate. 22 is slightly larger in diameter than the bottom of the furnace 2| and is provided at its opposite sides with stop lugs such as 11 which limit its swinging movement so that it cannot uncover the bottom of furnace 2|. Shaft 33 is connected to an arm 18, the outer end of which extends in the path of movement of the bottom-most rake 19 so that each time one of the arms of the rake 19 comes opposite the furnace 2|, such rake arm will strike the arm 18 and shake the v grate 22 to remove the ashes in the bottom of furnace 2|. The rake 19 moves in a counterclockwise direction and moves the arm 18 clockwise against the action of the spring 80 so that after the rake arm has passed the end of arm 18, the spring 80 restores the grate to its initial position with stop 11 against the bottom of furnace 2|. The motor 8 for the rakes and '19 may remain constantly operative, and thereby the tendency of furnace 2| to produce smoke is substantially eliminated because the continual operation of the grate 22 insures that only a thin bed of ashes will remain on the grate so that the desiccated material dropping from shelf i will not become imbedded and smolder in a thick bed of ashes. Also, the continual operation of the rakes I and I9 insures that the desiccated material is fed slowly to the furnace 2| so as to give it time to burn without smoldering in alarge pile.

In order to see from the inside of wall |2 whether the burner 23 is lit, use may be made of a .periscope 34 comprising a sight-tube 35, the lower end of which is in line with the flame from burner 23, and a sight-tube 36 optically connected therewith by a mirror 31, the tube 36 extending through the wall I2 and having an open end 38 for viewing the flame.

The drawer II is mounted in a casing 39 removably secured in the wall |2, by bolts 8|. Casing 39 slidably extends through an opening 39' in the side of the hopper 9.

As shown in Figs. 3 to 5, the drawer H, which may be made of sheet metal, is provided with a handle 40. Slidable in the drawer H is a pusher 4| operated by a handle 42 connected with parallel fiat push rods 43 and 44, slidably mounted in grooves 45 and 46, extending lengthwise across the middle of the sides of the drawer Each of the pusher rods 43 and 44, as indicated for rod 43, carries a spring detent such as 41, having an offset portion 48.to push the follower or pusher 4| forward to eject garbage from the drawer into hopper 9 when the handle 42 is pushed fully forward. The push rods 43 and 44 at their left ends, each have an inturned portion 49,50 which extend across the front of the pusher 4| to pull it back when the handle 42 is pulled out. In order to leave the pusher 4| at the inner right end of drawer even though the handle 42 is pushed in, at each side of the front of the drawer H is mounted a pivoted plate such as 5| which extends against the inside of the drawer H in position to engage the spring detent like 41 and push'it out to a position where its offset and 43 will pass by-the side of the pusher 4| when the handle 42 is pushed in. In the use of the drawer II. of course the drawer is pulled out when it is desired to deposit waste kitchen products or garbage therein, and if the pusher 4| is not at the right end of drawer II, it is moved to that position by pulling out the handle 42 so that the waste products are deposited in front of the pusher 4|. The pusher 4| is then moved forward by hand a short distance to thereby carry the rods 43, 44 forward to a position where the spring catch 41 is released from the pivoted arm 5|, the end 48 of the catch 41 then extending in front of the pusher 4| so that thereafter the pusher 4| may be advanced to the end of its stroke by pushing on the handle 42. Then the handle 42 is pushed in. whereby the material in the drawer is discharged therefrom into the hopper 9. If it is desired at that time to move the pusher 4| to the front of the drawer, without pulling out the drawer, this can be done by fully pulling out the handle 42 and pushing it in again. If it is desired to wash out the drawer H and its associated parts, the drawer maybe removed from its housing 39 and the pusher 4|, handle 42 and push rods 43-44 may be ejected from the left end of the drawer by moving the pivoted arms like 5| upwardly so that the parts just named will slide out of the left end of drawer The grooves 45 and 45 may be formed by stamping them out of the sides of the drawer and these stamped-out portions serve as ridges or rails which slide in companion grooves, not shown, in the opposite sides of the casing 39.

No doubt the reason that the word "garbage connotes something obnoxious is because of the obnoxious odor it acquires after it has been allowed to stand for several days or long enough to decay. The present invention provides method and means for converting garbage into an out thereby either producing an unpleasant odor or a substantial amount of smoke. The invention provides an end product which may be either ash which, of course, has a very small volume in proportion to the volume of the original material, or an end product which comprises desiccated, comminuted garbage in the form of dried discrete flakes or particles, which generally resemble smoking tobacco in appearance. The following are the reasons why smoke and unpleasant odor are substantially eliminated by the present invention.

In the first place, it is assumed that the apparatus is fed with garbage which is fresh, it being convenient to do so as the drawer II is accessible in the kitchen, and .in fact, vegetables may be peeled directly into it. In the case where the end product is to be ashes, with valve closed, the reason that smoke and unpleasant odor are not produced is that the fire box, that is, the depth of combustion chamber below the flame aperture 24 is very shallow, and hence, only a shallow bed of ashes can be built up on the grate. Also, the grate is constantly in operation, and hence, the ashes are continually removed so that at any one time there is only a shallow some would likely smolder apd qiroduce smoke. Also, the rakes 1, 19 are continually in operation at low speed with the result that only a small quantity of the desiccated material is fed to the burner 29 at any one time, the quantity of fuel being quite small as the furnace is small, in comparison to the desiccator so that plenty of oxygen is available for its combustion without producing smoke.

In the case where the end product is to be desiccated garbage, with valve open the reason that smoke is not produced is because the carbage is desiccated without being burned. Also, the desiccation takes place over a long period of time so that the result of this is simply to reduce the .moisture content in the desiccated material. v

The hopper 9 may comprise acylindrlcal casing 52 lined with concrete 53 and having a metal circular flange 54 lining its lower end, with an end flange 55 which rests on the top of the eas- 'ing 2 and removably secured thereto by suitable means such as bolts 56. Arranged at the top of the casing 52 adjacent the lower end of the hopper 9 is a circular grinding or comminuting device 3, which is shown in Figs. 8 and 9, and comprises a circular plate 51 having a plurality of non-radial slots such as 58 which may be milled in the top of plate 51 and a piece of hack saw blade 59 is set on edge in each slot 58 and suitably secured therein by sweating .or otherwise, with the teeth of the blade projecting above the top of the plate 51, as indicated at all, and with the valley 195 of the teeth on a level with the top of the plate so that that portion of the hack saw blade 59 which has no teeth is imbedded in the plate El to avoid providing an abutment which would not-be efiective to grind or cut the garbage material. The grinder it is secured to a shaft 8| which is coupled by a removable coupling 62 to the electric motor 3 which drives the grinder 3 at high speed such as 1800 R. P. M.

Arising from opposite sides of the grinder plate of scraping blades 63 and M which have an arouate periphery 65, t6 rotatably fitting in the flange M. The blades 63 and 69 have a right angle foot piece El, 58 suitably secured to the plate bl by means such as screws 69, with the top of the foot piece $11, 68 flush with the top of the plate 51. The plate 51 on its underside has a boss or end hear.- ing 119 which is rotatably supported by a boss H on a stationary plate 112- secured to casing 2 by depending flanges such as 113, which are secured to the casing by means such as bolt H4. The boss or thrust bearing H has a central aperture l5 serving as a bearing for the upper end of the shaft 6|. w

The grinder plate 51 is supported so that its top extends slightly below the lower end of flange 54, thereby leaving an annular opening 8| through which the comminuted particles are projected by centrifugal force from-the grinder to the interior of the top of easing 2. From that position such particles, usually having a high moisture content so that they will form an adherent mass are scraped by the scraping elements like 82-shown in Fig. 9. Each set of the scraping elements 82 comprises a plurality of spaced scraper members, one of which is indicated at 83, and four sets of the scraping elements 82 are illustrated in Figs. 9,and 10 at 82, 84, 85, 86. The material a then drops onto plate 12 and through the sector openings such as 81 in that plate. As the material drops onto one of the sectors of plate 12 it is removed therefrom by stirring or breaker elements such as lugs 89 depending from grinder plate II as shown in Figs. -9 and 10, four sets.

of elements 98 being shown, and each set -interleaving with a set of stationary abutments or lugs 89. one set being shown on each of the sectors of the plate I2. The material then proceeds from shelfto shell by gravity down the desiccator 2.

As the discharge opening 8| is annular, it has been found that stringy material such as a carrot stalk willfind its way through that aperture without being broken up or comminuted and it will be wound around the shaft 6|. This is prevented by the depending spaced lugs 89, on the grinder plate II, which rotate between thev stationary lugs 89 which serve to break up such stringy material into small pieces.

As shown in Fig. it, each rake such as I, 19 comprises a plurality of arms, four being shown, connected to a collar' 99 secured to a hollow shaft 9| by a set screw 92. The grinder shaft 8| is coaxial with and rotatably mounted in the rake shaft 9|. Rake shaft 9| is rotatably supported on the shaft 6|. The lower end of rake shaft 9| is rotatably supported by a collar 93 which rests on the top H. The hollow shaft 9| projects through the top i3 and to its lower end is socured a ratchet wheel 99 driven by a pawl 95 carried at one end of arm 96, the other end thereof being connected by a link 91 to a solenoid 98 in circuit with a bimetallic thermal switch 99 in. circuit with a source of current, not shown. The intermediate portion of arm 99 is loosely mounted on the hollow shaft 9| and the pawl 95 and arm 96 are held in retracted position by a tension spring M0, one end of which is connected to the arm 98 and the other end to the casing 2, as indicated at llll. Switch 99 intermittently opens and closes to periodically energize solenoid 98 and actuate the rakes l, l9.

The various shelves 6 are held in spaced relation by four radially spaced and longitudinally extendingmetal strips such as we, use, illtin Fig. '7. Each shelf 6 has a series of small sieve or classifying openings 4196 and a larger opening WI staggered with respect to the similar openings like new in the lower shelves. Aperture Mil serves as a vent for heated air from burner 23 and from furnace 20 if the desiccated material is burned. Holes @011 also provide a discharge opening for permitting a ball of the comminuted material to drop to the next shelf, the material at the top of the desiccator 2 having a tendenecy to ball up due to 'its high moisture content, but becoming flaky or granular with no ball after passing a few of the shelves. If the comminuted particles, even though wet, are small enough, and when desiccated, pass through the sieve openings H96 which may be coarser for upper shelves and smaller for lower shelves.

The rake and shelf assembly shown in Fig. '7 is a separate'removable or insertible unit and it is constructed by slipping one of the shelves 8 over the hollow shaft 9|, then slipping the rake collar over shaft 9| and securing the rake collar in position and continuing to slip the various shelves and rakes on the hollow shaft 9|, securing the rakes to the hollow shaft by set screws like 92 and securing the shelves in spaced relation by thestraps I92 to I94 which may be welded or otherwise secured to the shelves.

The shelf and rake assembly shown in Fig. '7 comprises a separate unit which may be inserted into or removed from casing 2 as a unit, in fact. with some elements later described connected with it. For example, if it is desired to remove the shelf and rake assembly shown'in Fig. 7 from casing 2, the vent pipes 29 and 30 are pulled out and the casing 39 is pulled out from hopper 9, which canbe removed by means of the pinsor bolts 56. The motor coupling 82 is preferably a slip coupling so that the grinder 3 and its shaft 6! may now be removed lifting them out. Then the stationary plate 12 and bolt 14 are removed, whereupon the rake and shelf assembly with shaft 9i, plate I3 together with solenoid I8 and thermal switch 99 attached to the underside of plate l3, also pawl and ratchet 94, 95, 96 mounted on hollow shaft 9i may be pulled out from the casing 2. The parts just described may be assembled in the reverse order.

It will be apparent that various modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A cylindrical housing, a series of drying shelves within said housing, a pair of shafts one within the other and extending vertically through the center of said shelves, rakes for said shelves mounted on the outer shaft, a grinder comprising a disk mounted on the upper end of the inner shaft in discharge relation to said shelves, abrasive means on the upper surface of said disk,

and driving means individual to said outer and I inner shafts for driving said inner shaft at a high speed and said outer shaft at a low speed.

2. A cylindrical housing, a shelf unit having a plurality of shelves, a vertical hollow shaft extending through the center of the shelves of said unit, rakes mounted on said hollow shaft between said shelves and in raking relation thereto, said shelf unit, hollow shaft and rakes comprising a unit removably fitting in said .housing, an inner shaft rotatably and slidably fitting in said hollow shaft, a grinding device above said shelf unit on said inner shaft, a bearing removably supporting each of said shafts. and a power drive individual to and removably coupled with each of said shafts.

3. Desiccating apparatus comprising a desiccator having a plurality of spaced shelves each having a plurality of apertures, a rake for each of said shelves, a hopper at the top of said desiccator, a comminuting device in the bottom of said hopper and at the top of said desiccator, a motor below said desiccator, a shaft connecting said motor to said comminuting device, a hollow shaft on said first shaft, a rake for each of said shelves connected to said hollow shaft, and means for rotating said hollow shaft.

4. Comminuting and desiccating apparatus comprising concentric shafts one of which is a high speed shaft and the other a low speed shaft, a power drive individual to each of said shafts, a comminuting device on said high speed shaft, a desiccator below said comminuting device to receive discharges therefrom, and an agitator for said desiccator on said low speed shaft.

5. Desiccating apparatus comprising a cylindrical casing, means for projecting comminuted material by centrifugal force on the interior of said casing at the top thereof, a plurality of spaced perforated shelves in said casing, means for removing from the inside of the said casing the comminuted material projected thereon by said first means, to permit such material to drop.

in said casing toward said shelves, means in the path of material removed by said last-mentioned means for breaking up an elongated strip or piece of material, and desiccating means in said casing.

6. Garbage disposal apparatus comprising a hopper, a rotary comminuting device at the bottom of said hopper, a desiccator below said hop-, perfsaid hopper having an aperture above and around said rotary device to pass comminuted material projected from said rotary device by centrifugal action, said desiccator having an inlet communicating with said aperture, means on said rotary device for agitating comminuted material adherent at said inlet to cause the same to drop into said desiccator, said desiccator comprising a plurality of superposed shelves each having a series of comparatively small apertures through which finely divided particles may fall, each shelf having a comparatively large aperture to serve as a fiue for heated air and also to serve as an outlet fora mass of comminuted material too large to pass through said smaller apertures,

the apertures in adjoining shelves being staggered, a rotary rake for each of said shelves. means for rotating'said rakes, means for rotating said rotary comminuting device, the bottom of said desiccator having an outlet for desiccated material and an inlet for heated air, a burner below said inlet, and a chute for said outlet for guiding desiccated material to said burner. v 7. Desiccating apparatus comprising a desiccator having a plurality of spaced shelves each having a plurality of apertures, a rake for each of said shelves, a hopper at the top of said desiccator, an abrasive disk serving as the bottom of said hopper and as the top of said desiccator, said disk having a top edge spaced from said hopper to provide a restricted circular outlet leading into said desiccator, means for rotating said rakes at a comparatively slow speed, and means for rotating said disk at a higher speed.

8. Comminuting means, a desiccator there below and having an inlet to receive comminuted material from said comminuting means by gravity, said desiccator comprising a casing having therein an assembly of vertically spaced apertured drying shelves, a burner and chimney-v therefor at one side of and below said desiccator, a fiue for leading hot combustion gases from said burner and chimney into the lower end of:

said casing, and means comprising said flue for feeding desiccated material from said desiccator by gravity to said burner.

9. A high speed grinder, means for supplying thereto garbage such as kitchen waste products including bone and vegetable matter having a high moisture content, said grinder comprising a casing and an abrasive disk thereinfor comminuting the garbage and projecting the com minuted garbage by centrifugal force on the inside of said casing to form an adherent mass of comminuted particles, adherent by reason of wall and serving as a combustion chamber hav-.

. 9 4 in: a flameopening adjacent the top of said combustion chamber, a'gas manifold having a ?'gas port outwardly spaced from the outside of said wall and adjacent said flameopening. means for dropping desiccated comminuted gar- 5 base into said receptacle, said receptacle having an upper portion comprising a flue for creating a draft to deflect the flame from said manifold from the outside, to the inside of said wall through said opening into said combustion cham- 10 her.

ARCHIBALD T. KEENE.

REFERENCES CITED The following reierences are 01 record in the 15 me or this patent:

Number 

